Studies on the Development of Benzoyl Peroxide Catalysed Rapid Oil Tanning using Linseed Oil

Abstract

Leather tanning is a stabilisation process of skin fibers. This is achieved by the interaction of collagen amino acids with tanning agents to stabilise skin from putrefaction. Tanning of collagen with oil is a special class of tanning known as chamois tanning. Chemically, the oil tanning involves oxidation of unsaturation present in the oil, which is generally achieved by exposing oil treated skins to air. In this study, Benzoyl peroxide has been used as an accelerating agent for oxidation of unsaturated bonds present in the linseed oil for oil tanning process. Results shows remarkable reduction in tanning duration from fifteen days to two days. The chamois leathers prepared using oxidation accelerant (Benzoyl peroxide) have been evaluated for physical properties such as water absorption (611%), tensile strength (18 N/mm2) and percentage of elongation (66 %) which are found to be better than control leathers.